Here There Be Tigers (2 page)

She sucked in a sharp breath and turned away
when he started toward them.

“
He’s coming,” she said.

“
Let’s move.”

The driver tugged her into a trot. Then into a
full run.

She threw her backpack over her free shoulder
and did her best to keep up as they wove through the throngs of
people on the sidewalk. He rushed her toward the parking lot,
ducking around the long line waiting for a taxi.

“
Whoa, wait.” She tried to nudge his
big body back toward the luggage area. “We have to find a security
person or airport police.” Panic continued shooting adrenaline
through her blood stream, mixing badly with her
confusion.

“
Security can’t help with that guy,”
the driver said without altering his direction.

“
And you can? Who are you?” She
tugged him to a slower pace, though she didn’t dare stop
moving.

A quick glance confirmed the gunman was still
behind them. Fortunately, he was caught up in a tangled mass of
people and luggage, but that wouldn’t delay him for long. Her
rescuer urged her to a quicker trot, pulling her attention back to
where she was going. She looked longingly at the nearest entrance
into the airport, wondering where to find an official who could
help.

“
I’m a friend of your
grandmother’s,” the man said. “Rossa sent me.”

Startled, she tripped on an uneven section of
concrete. He caught her before she fell, helping her regain her
footing with surprising strength and ease.

“
Trust me.” He held her gaze for a
heartbeat.

The brief look stunned her to silence. His
expression was hard and serious, his gaze intent. He was also
probably the most handsome man she’d ever seen, now that she
stopped to actually look. Short, shaggy brown hair, light eyes,
classically handsome features.

But it was the hum of her instincts that gave
her pause. Those same instincts had served her well her entire
life, keeping her safe in her travels around the world and helping
her work with injured, angry cats that could outweighed her by
hundreds of pounds. Now, her instincts were whispering that the man
before her was saving her life.

Trust him.

Her quick, certain insight got brushed to the
back of her mind as he pulled her into a run toward the parking
lot.

“
You know my grandmother?” she
asked.

“
I’ll tell you everything when we’re
safe. This way.” He led her between the rows of cars, down a ramp
to a lower level, then up another row of cars.

“
That man was trying to get me to
the parking lot.”

“
Probably because he has a car here,
too.”

“
Are you working with
him?”

“
No.”

She tried getting a look at his face, but he
was a step ahead of her so she couldn’t see his expression. Her
instincts continued urging her to trust him.

The skin between her shoulder blades crawled
with the knowledge that the gunman was still somewhere behind them.
The man beside her didn’t give her the willies like the other man
did. Hell, this guy had stopped her kidnapping, and he claimed to
know her grandmother. He knew her grandmother’s name.

Though, so had the kidnapper.

But since she didn’t feel the need to get away
from this man, and he was making sure she
did
get away from
the gunman, she decided to listen to her instincts.

“
You’re not a taxi driver are
you?”

“
No.”

This time, she heard a hint of humor in his
voice. “That man’s still following us.”

“
I know. We’re almost
safe.”

“
Right.” Unintended sarcasm slipped
into her tone.

He flashed a half smile that nearly made her
stumble again. Holy hell. When he smiled, he was stunning, even in
the awful, overly bright parking lot lighting. How was that even
possible?

She decided adrenaline was warping her sense of
reality and shook off the strange effect his smile had on her. She
had more important things to do just then. Like survive.

“
You know what that other guy wants
from me?” She panted, stretching to keep up with his longer
strides.

“
Yes. We’ll discuss it
later.”

“
We need to go to the
police.”

“
He has people inside the
NYPD.”

“
My kidnapper?” That
seemed…extreme.

“
His boss.”

She wanted to ask more, but he shoved her in
front of him. She heard a beep beep as car door locks disengaging.
He opened the passenger side door of a large, black SUV.

“
Get in.”

She didn’t bother arguing. She could do that
later when she no longer felt the other man hunting them. That was
the only way to describe it. She couldn’t hear him or see him
anymore, but she knew her kidnapper was still back there somewhere,
almost as if she could feel him. Fear tingled along the back of her
neck.

She held her breath while her rescuer climbed
in beside her and locked the doors. She started breathing again
when he backed out of the parking spot. She still couldn’t see the
other man.

“
Did you break his wrist?” she asked
as she scoured the area for any sign of the kidnapper.

“
Yes.”

“
Where’s his gun?”

He handed her the weapon, grip first. “Now,
duck down. Just in case.”

After one last glance around the parking lot,
she did as he suggested. She hated guns, so she checked the safety,
and then set the weapon on the floor, stepping on it to keep it
from sliding under the seat. She couldn’t stand having it in her
hands. The feel of them disgusted her.

The fact that he’d handed her the gun had gone
a long way toward confirming her instinctive reaction to trust him,
though. But now she wanted answers. Who was he? How did he know her
grandmother? What the hell was going on? Why did she trust
him?

“
You’re going to answer my questions
when we’re safe, right?” she said from her undignified crouch. She
had to concentrate on not throwing up as the adrenaline took its
toll.

“
Probably.” He glanced down and
smiled again, the look quick and lethally sexy. Then he returned to
focusing on his driving. “My name is Mikhail Chernikov, by the way.
Call me Mitch. I hate Mikhail. Only my grandmother calls me that.
And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Nila.”

His last name sounded familiar. Where had she
heard it before? When her memory failed her, she gave up and asked,
“Where are we going?”

“
Somewhere safe.”

“
Is there a reason I’m trusting
you?”

“
I just saved your life?”

Nila let out a long, slow sigh. “That’s what I
thought.”

CHAPTER TWO

Nila shifted slightly in the seat to gaze up at
Mitch, her lower back protesting her position. She’d remained
hunched over for at least ten minutes, and she was pretty sure they
were out of the airport now.

“
Can I sit up?”

He didn’t answer for a moment, then
nodded.

She straightened with a groan and stretched her
back. “Forty-eight hours of travel, cramped planes, long layovers,
crowded airports, followed by a run through the parking lot have
not done my body any good at all.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
“I would have to disagree with that.”

“
Meaning?”

“
Your body looks just fine to
me.”

She narrowed her gaze at him, but he was
watching traffic again. “You said you know my grandma? Why don’t I
know you?”

“
Actually, my grandmother and yours
are friends. I just met your grandmother for the first time two
days ago. She told me to call her Rossa.” He smiled
slightly.

“
What’s your grandmother’s
name?”

“
Elizaveta Chernikova.”

Ah, that was why his last name sounded
familiar. Her grandma had talked about her Russian friend.
Apparently, they Skyped and everything.

“
So how did you happen to be at the
airport?”

“
I was coming to collect you. At
Rossa and Leo’s request.”

She blinked at that. “I don’t know you. Why
would my grandmother and father think I’d go anywhere with
you?”

“
Because I’m very
handsome?”

The answer was so outrageous and unexpected,
she laughed. “I don’t climb into cars with strangers just because
they’re handsome. And my father would definitely not send you to
pick me up just because you’re handsome.”

“
So you agree I’m very
handsome?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re all
right.”

He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the
darkened interior of the SUV. The expression added to his appeal
but also gave him a deliciously wicked air.

“
Your grandmother was supposed to
call you,” he said, “tell you to expect me. Sorry I was late. Got
caught in traffic.”

“
Damn. I was hunting for my cell
when that man pushed a gun into my back.”

She leaned over and dug through her backpack.
When she emerged with her phone, she turned it on. Sure enough
there was a voicemail from her grandmother. As she listened to the
beloved voice telling her a family friend would be collecting her
and to check her email for a picture of the man, she detected the
strain in her grandma’s tone.

“
Why was she worried?” she asked
Mitch as she checked her email.

“
You could tell from a
voicemail?”

“
I know my grandma.”

He shrugged.

When he didn’t reply after a few moments, she
said, “Are you avoiding my question or do you not know?”

“
Why your grandmother was worried? I
know. And since someone just tried kidnapping you, I’d say her
worry was justified.”

“
But why? How could she have known I
was about to be kidnapped? She’s never mentioned being psychic.”
Nila paused, then admitted, “Though she’s a firm believer in giving
the Evil Eye.” She shuddered.

Mitch smiled, but no humor reached his eyes.
“The reason for her worry is a long story.”

“
Longer than it will take to get to
her house?”

“
Actually, we’re not going to
Rossa’s. She’s on her way to a safer spot with Leo.”

“
Whoa, whoa. Why do they need a
safer spot? Where the hell have they gone?”

He glanced at her, his expression thoughtful.
“You’re more concerned with their welfare than the fact that a man
you don’t know is taking you somewhere mysterious?”

“
First things first. I’ll worry
about you in a minute. Besides, my grandma vouched for you in her
voicemail and sent your picture so I’d know who you were.” She held
up her phone to show him the photo. “And I trust her.” Her
grandma’s instincts were almost as good as her own. If Rossa De
Luca said this guy was a friend, Nila would give him the benefit of
the doubt. For now, anyway. “So where are she and my dad? Why
didn’t they meet me at the airport? I was stuck in DC for hours.
Why didn’t my grandmother call me there to say you were collecting
me? What the hell is going on?”

Mitch released a long breath. “Your father’s
got a safe location in mind, but that’s as much as I know.” He
nodded toward the hand she had clenched around her phone. “Leave
your cell on. Rossa said they’ll call as soon as they can. As for
why they didn’t come to collect you… That was actually the original
plan. We were all going to meet you at the airport so your father
could explain everything in person. Then one of Petrov’s tigers
showed up—”

She stopped him again with a raised hand.
“Tiger? There’s a tiger on the loose in New York?”

He shook his head. “I’m getting ahead of
myself. The guy who tried to kidnap you? He works for someone with
a lot of connections, someone extremely dangerous—Petrov Dubrovsky.
And Petrov wants you dead.”

“
What?” Her voice rose and she had
to take a deep breath. “Why the hell would someone I’ve never heard
of want me dead?”

“
Your past has caught up with you,
and your family will be in danger until we can work something
out.”

“
My
past? I don’t have a
past. I lead the most boring life ever.”

He gave her a disbelieving look. “You take care
of big cats and travel around the world, looking after animals in
sanctuaries and reserves, because you’re considered the foremost
expert in your field. What in that life is boring?”

She snorted. “Okay, so my job is great and I
love it. But it’s all I do. And I’ve only been doing it for seven
years. And while I’m very very good at it, nothing about it should
have attracted the attention of kidnappers. At least not in this
country. Now answer my damned question.”

“
You’re not going to like the
answers I give you.”